THE CHRISTIAN WAY《基督教底蕴》[En/cn]
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THE CHRISTIAN WAY （基督教底蕴：十之九）
By DR W. R. MATTHEWS
The Christian faith is not primarily a code of morals, or a social idealism. It does not tell us what to do in all conceivable circumstances, nor does it offer a "blue print" of an earthly Utopia. It is the way of eternal life. And the saying of Jesus, " He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that loveth his life for my sake shall find it'', which St. Paul develops and applies, is to my mind authentic wisdom for living. We must be ready to let our old selves die; we must be ready to leave them behind; not for the sake of death, but for the sake of wider life. This is a principle which applies not only to individuals, but to institutions and nations - and to the Church. One who really understands and embraces it will have the secret of youth,
for he will always be looking forward, and may hope that bodily death itself will be the entrance on a wider life.
基督教的信仰，基本上不是一种道德守则，或是某类的社会理想主义。它并没有告诉我们在可以想象的情境中应该做什么，也没有提供现世乌托邦的一份“蓝图”。它是永生的方式。基督的话，“喜爱自己生命的人必将丧失生命，为我而喜爱生命的人，将会找到自己的生命”，圣保罗扩充那些话而且引用那些话，那些话在我的心目中就是指导生活的真正智慧。我们一定得做好准备，让旧日的我辈死掉；我们一定要做好准备，让旧日的我辈留在后头；这不是为了死，而是为了范围更广大的生命。这一原则不仅适用于个人，而且可以适用于团体和国家——也适用于教会。对这原则真正了解而且全心接受的人，将会拥有青春的奥秘，因为他永远会向前看，他可以希冀，肉体死亡其本身将是通往更广阔的生命的入口。
There is a sense in which Christian philosophy of life is a criticism of any moral philosophy. I mean that the Christian religious experience transcends and abolishes the purely moral experience. The situation in which the virtuous man stands is well summed up in Kant's dictum on the subject of moral freedom, "I ought, therefore I can"; the consciousness of moral obligation carries with it the assurance that I am able to fulfil it. The situation of the religious man, as Paul conceives it, is almost the opposite. He is indeed conscious of moral obligation, but at the same time acutely aware that he cannot fulfil it; "the good that I would, that I do not". "Wretched man that I am," he cries, and the answer is not "try harder", but "have faith that God can do in you what you by yourself can never accomplish". “I ought, but I can't”, is the starting of the process which leads to the solution of faith, “I can't but God in Christ can, and insofar as I am in Christ, I can”.
一种基督教的人生哲学，可以认为是对任何道德哲学或伦理学的批评。我的意思是，基督徒的宗教经验超越并废除纯然道德方面的经验。关于有德之人的立场，康德在他论述道德自由时所说的“我应该，所以我能够”的名言，把它总结得很是妥当；意识到道义上的责任，就随之带来“我能够做到”的保证。信徒的情况，根据保罗的想法，几乎是相反的。信徒确实也感到道义上的责任，但同时却剧烈地觉得他做不到；“我向往至善，我做不到”。“我这可怜人，” 他会大喊，其答案不是“再努力些”，而是“对上主保持信心，你自己永远做不了的事，上主能让你做到”。“我应该，但是我做不到”，是导致解决信心问题之过程的起点，“我做不到，但是在基督之中的上主能够，只要我在基督之中，我做得到”。
There is a sense, too, in which a Christian philosophy must criticize social idealism. Though we do not question the influence of environment on human persons, or the duty of improving to the utmost possible limit the ordering of social and economic conditions, we must hold that all forms of "Utopianism" are unrealistic and dangerously misleading. The sinful nature of man will distort and corrupt the best planned social order, and the concentration of hopes and loyalties even on an imaginary future perfect society will divert the minds of men of goodwill from their true object - eternal life in God. The "good time coming" can be an idol, if it is a good time in this world only.
在某种意义上，基督教的哲学也必定会批评社会理想主义。有关环境对人的影响，或者大家应负责任、尽最大可能改善社会的和经济的状况，虽然我们不会质疑，但是所有各种形式的“乌托邦主义”都是不切实际而且危险地误导的。人类的劣性会扭曲和败坏计划良好的社会秩序，把希望和忠诚寄托在即使是一个想象的未来的完美社会，也会让本性善良的人们把他们的心思脱离正确的目标——在上主之中的永恒生命。“美好时刻到来”可能会是一个偶像，如果美好时刻只限于这个世界。
But, of course, there is such a thing as Christian ethics, and probably, too, a Christian sociology, if by that is meant the study of human society from the standpoint of Christian principles. I confess that it is here that I have had to wrestle with perplexities which are even now only partially resolved. A long time ago Herbert Spencer remarked, as an objection to Christian ethics, that it is better to have a decent standard of morality which is practicable than a more exalted one which is impracticable. No doubt he identified the Christian ethical ideal with the Sermon on the Mount. Though this is open to objection, no one would deny that the Sermon on the Mount is a primary authority on the conduct required by Jesus from His followers. I have known good persons, living in the world, who believed that they literally obeyed the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount. I fear that they had never seriously considered the real implications of the Sermon. To take one example only, "Resist not the evil man", literally interpreted, that would mean that an injured person should not seek the protection of the law or the police either for himself or for others.
当然，我们是有基督教道德观，而且可能还有基督教社会学，如果后者的含义是，从基督教的立场研究人类社会。在这里，我得承认有一些直到现在还只是部分解决的困惑，我仍然需要全力搏斗的。很久以前，史本塞对基督教道德观有所不满，他认为采取实际可行的良好的道德标准，胜于不可能实行但目标比较崇高的那种标准。无疑地，他所谓的基督教道德理想是指山上的宝训。虽然不甚妥当，没有人会否认，山上的宝训是耶稣对门徒行为的基本指令。我认得生活在这个世界的一些绅士淑女，他们相信自己是照字面遵守山上宝训的。我恐怕他们从来没有严肃地考虑宝训的实际影响。只举一个例子，“不对抗邪恶人”如果照字面推敲，可以解释为受害人不应该为自己或其他人找寻法律或警察的保护。
A. N. Whitehead, in his Adventures of Ideas, has the answer which comes near to solving the problem. He points out that, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was describing the absolute ideal for social existence without reference to the consequences which would follow in an actual historical situation. He is not legislating for a “continuing society”, but for the completely realized Kingdom of God. We, however, have to act in a continuing society and it would be immoral for us not to take into account the probable consequences of our actions.
怀赫德在他的著作《理念的奇遇》一书中所提出的答案，近乎可以解决该问题。他指出，在山上宝训中，耶稣描述的是社会实在底绝对理想，而未顾及它在实际的历时情况下的后果。他并不是替“延续的社会”订定法律，而是为已经完全实现的上主的王国立法。但是，我们必须在延续的社会中采取行动，如果不把我们行动的可能后果加以考虑，那就会是不道德的。 （十之九完）
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